This is beautiful and haunting and chilling and so sad. It gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. I really like it, as it's very unique- I haven't found a Fenrir story before this. I don't think many people seem to be interested in writing him as a MC because he's so gruesome. Honestly, he always rather scared me, so I never stopped to question what exactly might have happened to him to make him such a terrifying, ruthless, creepy killer. So, this gives a whole new dimension to him that is completely believable and not really something I've thought of before.

It makes me wonder what might have happened to his father to make him a werewolf and how old Fenrir was when his father- I'm guessing accidentally- attacked him. It also makes me curious as to what happened to Remus.. Obviously, he was a werewolf while at Hogwarts..but who knows how young or what happened? Oh boy.. This is how I know you've got an awesome story, now my mind is going crazy wondering what happened with these werewolves! Great job. :)

This is beautiful! I would love you to continue. I'm not sure I understand the end of the chapter that well, but hopefully if you go on it will start to make more sense.

Author's Response: Thank you for reviewing! Sorry to say that this is just a one-shot, though, so I won't be adding any more to it. :( The end of the chapter was meant to be a little bit vague, so that you can come to your own conclusions; but basically it is Fenrir choosing to work with the Death Eaters because they're the only ones willing to giving him work.

As all your other stories, I really enjoyed this. Although it was simple, it's absolutely wonderful. You touched on everything that I think Fenrir would if he actually thought about something else besides the inhumane thoughts he usually has. An amazing job, as usual! :)

Author's Response: Ahh thank you! The style of this one-shot was very simplistic and blunt. Since the books stated that the Whomping Willow was built just for Remus's use, it led me to believe that he was the first werewolf to attend Hogwarts. For some reason, I always imagined that Greyback was infected when he was young, too, and wasn't properly educated at Hogwarts. Not sure why, but that's my head canon, so I always saw Greyback as very underdeveloped, mentally.

hello darling! here i am! i shall attempt to formulate some sort of sensible review for such a wonderful piece.

firstly, thank you so much for taking part in my challenge. i am pleased that you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried something new and wow, were you successful.

i think if this had have been told in 3rd person it would have lost something, so the choice to use 1st person was the right one. the emotion in this is so real. it is subtle but tangible, just there on the surface but it runs so much deeper. i have never read a Fenrir quite like this and he is a character that i have never really considered before. while i was reading this, like i said in my blog, i could not help but think how right this all felt. like this was really his story. you did a wonderful job!

i love the idea of his mother. it makes him human that even now, when he has become what he is, he is shamed and doesn't want her to hear him or know what sort of creature he is. and i love that she still insists he is beautiful. as a mother, i can see how that is, because i would love my child no matter what. it actually made me a bit teary, reading those scenes.

one of the things that really stood out for me and made me go, oh! was the comment about Fenrir not being able to read. i teach low literacy kids - 13 years olds who can barely read a thing, so i know how real the emotion and the struggle behind such a thing is. including that small detail made me feel so sad for Fenrir!

i really love the metaphor at the end - "and i will soon be painted, too". heartbreaking! so terribly tragic. even though Fenrir is the bad guy, all through this i wanted something good for him, and that, my dear, is why you won this challenge. all the little things you included just made me feel for him, and made me want to give him a hug! i never thought i would feel any sort of sympathy towards such a character but you completely humanised him.

beautiful work. you should be really proud of this piece. thank you so much for writing it!

Kate xx

I shall be attacking your one-shots very soon!!

Author's Response: Thank you for your review! And for the challenge, and for selecting me as winner. I am very honored. :) It was tricky to take a character I hated so much (in my novel, he's pretty much written as the devil) and step into his shoes, and somehow manipulate the reader to pity him. But really, it wasn't so hard. I remember reading about him in Deathly Hallows when he and the other snatchers found Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and thinking, "He doesn't sound very educated." And then I remembered about how the Whomping Willow had been planted specifically for Remus at Hogwarts, and that it had been alluded to that Remus was the first werewolf to successfully attend Hogwarts, as well as the last. So where does that leave Fenrir? I think that if he had gone to school, he would have sounded more...intelligent. He would have been able to use the tools he's acquired to make the most of his life, like Remus did. But after thinking about it, I don't think Fenrir went to Hogwarts at all. Just knowing that at one time, he had been normal, and then attacked by another werewolf...he must have had a really messed up past. But it would make the most sense that it happened to him when he was young, and after that he didn't have any good influences around him to help him cope, because if he'd had a warm upbringing that taught him how to make the most of it, he wouldn't have turned out the way he did. It just seemed like the logical story to me.

Thank you so much for creating this challenge. It really opened me up to new ways of writing and I enjoyed it a lot. :)

Fenrir has always been one of my favourite characters as I have always believed that there is more to him than what we see in the books and you have written him exactly as I imagined him.

Reading this you have given me quite a few plot bunnies that I'm itching to start writing but can't cos' I've got to finish up a few challenges that I'm in.

And speaking of challenges, good luck with this one!

Megan
xx

Author's Response: Thank you! :) It's a bit rare to find people who like Fenrir. It's hard to feel sorry for someone who did what he did to poor Remus Lupin (*cries*), but if you look at him from another angle, and simplify him, it's easier to pity him. It never seemed like he was very intelligent, or that he was getting the best support group, and probably felt very, very alone with his condition. He did terrible things, yes, but I can sort of see his motivations as to why.

Oh my goodness gracious I liked this! It definitely achieved what it was supposed to do for the challenge because I did feel like I was able to connect to Fenrir (and I had just been writing dark slimy creepy Fenrir so I was really thinking he couldn't have sympathy) and feel that sympathy he never really gets! I really liked how you had the paintings in there because it was something I had never seen before. It did feel as though it wasn't exactly the same Fenrir as in the books, but book Fenrir is incredibly hard to match up to because he is always seen as this horribly evil character, so I don't think I actually have any CC for you! :)

I really really (continues on for several minutes) really enjoyed this, and I'm sorry for getting the review to you so late!
-ginger

Author's Response: Thank you! You know, I think you're the only one I have EVER heard of who actually likes Fenrir. In one of the stories I've written, he's super-mega-evil, so it was difficult to slip into a different pair of shoes and try to make other people feel sorry for him when I don't even feel sorry for him myself. He is a bit different from you'd expect, because of his characterization in the books; but I feel that since he was so one-dimensional in HP, there's room for experimentation in fan fiction. It was a challenge, though! I enjoyed writing it. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! :)

This was a really interesting perspective on Greyback, and I certainly did feel very sorry for him! I loved the use of the portraits, very original and very effective. And that last sentence... wow. Gave me shivers. Great stuff! :)

Author's Response: Thank you! I'm glad you felt sorry for him. In another story I wrote, he's one of the most hated characters. It was difficult to flip that on its head and make Fenrir someone to pity.